Behaviour of Cement Stabilised Rammed Earth Walls Under Concentric and Eccentric Gravity Loading

Abstract

Cement stabilised rammed earth (CSRE) is used for the construction of buildings, especially load-bearing walls. Thinner (<300 mm) CSRE walls are prone to lateral bending before collapsing due to slenderness effects under concentric and eccentric compressions. The paper presents results of an investigation dealing with influence of slenderness and load eccentricity on compressive strength of CSRE walls. CSRE walls of slenderness 10 and 14 were tested for compressive strength by varying load eccentricity between 0 and 1/3rd of the wall thickness. Lateral deflections were monitored across the height of the walls. The results show that the compressive strength of the walls reduces with increase in slenderness and load eccentricity.